The Bakkt Futures trading volume for Bitcoin (BTC) has gained almost 800% in just one day[3] after a slow start to life for the long-awaited futures contract trading platform headed by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
Bakkt Volume Reaches All-Time High
A bot account on Twitter, which tracks the number of contracts traded on Bakkt, reported this morning that 224 BTC futures were traded on August 9, an eye-watering increase of 796% from the previous day. October 8’s volume of 25 BTC was coincidentally the lowest figure recorded since the platform went live on September 22. However, Bakkt’s volume is still a considerable distance off its closest rival, the Chicago-based CME Group, but it is a sign of better things to come.
Sluggish Start
The launch of Bakkt was arguably the most highly anticipated event in the crypto world this year. However, the platform underwhelmed massively in its first week of trading[4], with just 623 futures contracts being exchanged for a total value of just over $5 million USD. In comparison, CME traded over 4,000 contracts on September 27 alone, at a total value of $165 million USD. Bakkt had been touted as an entry point for legacy financial institutions into crypto trading, given its close associations with legacy institutions like the New York Stock Exchange.
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Bakkt and Bitcoin Closely Linked
Naturally, trading activity on Bakkt is closely linked to Bitcoin’s value and vice versa. The slow uptake of the platform coincided with a downward spiral in BTC value, as it crashed from over the $10,000 USD mark to below $8,000 USD during Bakkt’s opening weekend, with many analysts blaming the exchange’s poor
